Exposed
by DaniellaLovesDisney
Summary: Harper isn't herself. Theresa is more smothering than usual. Alex is caught up in a deadly situation - and it's not just happening to her; it's happening to other teenagers all over the country...
1. Chapter 1

For an early October Monday morning in New York, it was unusually cold. Alex Larkin had had to dig out her fitted black gilet for the first time this year. She stood at the entrance to the subway on Manhattan's Second Avenue, arms wrapped around herself, waiting for Harper to finally show up.

Alex adjusted the bud in her left ear and turned up the volume on No Doubt. It wasn't enough to completely drown out the omnipresent gridlock in the road, but it became more bearable. _If they could invent something that blocked the smell of burned onions and car fumes, my life would be perfect._

Alex's eyes fixed on a familiar figure emerging out of the subway. Harper was dressed for a fall semester at a prestigious New England college: a red tartan pleated skirt; a chunky cream wool turtleneck sweater; matching tights; and black ankle boots. Alex took out her earphones and paused the music on her phone.

'Good morning, Alex!' Harper called, waving.

'Hey, Harper, umm.' Alex gestured at her best friend's ensemble. 'You're looking very… conventional today.'

'Am I?' Harper frowned and looked down. 'I thought this was fine.'

'It is, but I thought you'd be dressed like… I dunno, like a pumpkin spice latte or something. Ooh, speaking of, if we hurry we might be able to get one before first period, come on.'

Harper fell into step beside Alex. 'Is there something wrong with how I'm dressed today?'

'No, Harper, it doesn't matter. I just thought it was unusually… well, you know, not your style.'

'My style?'

'Yeah, you know, like yesterday you were wearing a lot of orange and black and you had mini jack-o-lantern earrings even though October has literally just started.'

'Oh, OK.'

'What is with you?' Alex laughed. 'Girl, you need your latte.'

'Coffee?' Harper pulled back her sleeve and looked at her watch. _What's wrong with the clock on your phone?_ Alex thought.

'Oh, we won't have time for coffee today, we'll miss homeroom.'

Alex snorted. 'We haven't been to a single homeroom since school started. You know what Miss Chott's like.'

'I just don't want a tardy slip.'

'Do they even give those out anymore? What's the big deal anyway? You know she marks everyone in even if they're running late or whatever.'

Harper sighed and looked at Alex with wide eyes. 'I just haven't been comfortable with being late to school. I'm sorry, Alex…'

Alex frowned and smiled slightly. 'Well, go to homeroom then. I'm not stopping you. I'll just pick up your order.'

'That's OK, I don't really feel like coffee. See you in class, don't be late!' Harper began to jog down the street and around the corner.

 _Harper's acting weird._ Alex snorted. _Duh. Whatever; it's not as if we're going to miss anything in homeroom._ She dawdled the rest of the way, shrugging her tote off her shoulder and swinging it, lifting it so it wouldn't brush against the sidewalk, shrugging it back onto her shoulder and repeating.

The Starbucks on the corner of Second Avenue and East Twenty-First Street – and across from school – had recently replaced a local chain. Its familiar green colour made Alex feel relaxed. She entered and joined the growing queue of Tribeca Prep students. Five people stood between her and Justin Russo. He was a junior, the president of the Alien Language League, of all things, and Harper's latest unattainable crush. Alex thought he had a superiority complex; and anyway, he was nothing special to look at. Harper was reaching sixth-grade levels of obsession with this guy: doodling _Mrs Harper Russo_ all over the front of her notebook and scrawling love poems and lyrics inside. Alex knew more about Justin Russo than she cared to know. He was half-Italian, an only child being raised by his dad, with a mysterious mother-figure lurking in the background whose circumstances remained… well, a mystery. Mr Russo also ran a sandwich shop down Waverly Place, somewhere Alex had never been, because the area was out of her price range.

She hadn't realised she had been staring at the back of his head. Justin turned to look at something behind and above her, and their eyes met. He looked away without recognition. Alex sneered. _Just like him_ , even though it wasn't; they had never officially met.

Justin turned round again and this time, his eyes went straight to Alex. He frowned a little. He turned away slowly.

 _Huh?_

Alex kept her focus on Justin, in case he did it again. Several minutes passed, in which the distance between Alex and the counter continued to close; in which Justin Russo reached the barista and placed his order; in which he waited at the end of the counter for his drink. In those several minutes, he kept darting tiny, miniscule glances at Alex. She pretended to ignore them. _What's his deal? Does he have a crush on me?_ Ewww _, I hope he doesn't._

'Justin?' another barista called, holding a small cup. Justin took his coffee and left, shooting one last, curious look at Alex.

'Next,' the barista at the till said. Alex stepped forward and placed her order. When her pumpkin spice latte arrived, she took it to a window seat. She had plenty of time until first period.

She was watching the steady trickle of students stream through the blue and gold gates of Tribeca when they began to part suddenly. A small, dark-haired boy bulldozed his way through, pivoting to look back. Alex thought he looked about eleven or twelve.

The boy spun back around, looking panicked. He looked up and down the street, then bolted right. Alex leaned into the window to see where he was going, but her angle made it difficult to keep watching. She settled back into her seat. Nobody else in the Starbucks had seen what had just happened; the students making their way into school closed ranks and continued like everything was normal.

Ten minutes later, Alex decided it was time to mosey into school and wander the corridors. She left her empty mug on the table and jaywalked across the quiet road. As she approached Tribeca, more students came bursting out of the building, sprinting across the yard and into the busier-sounding East Twentieth Street. _Is this, like, some kind of practice for track?_ They'd gone in the same direction as that boy. _Why are some tenth graders interested in a sixth or seventh grader?_

When Alex turned back, she saw Justin Russo jogging through the yard to the gates. He slowed down when he saw her.

'Hey, you. Have you seen Max Birou?'

 _That'll be the sixth grader._ 'I don't know who you're talking about.' She started to walk away.

'He would have left school about ten minutes ago? Possibly running somewhere? Hey, I'm talking to you.' Justin Russo grabbed Alex's arm and she jumped.

'Yeah, and I've just told you I don't know who he is. I've just got here.' She tried to shrug his hand off.

'I saw you in Starbucks.'

'I wasn't sitting in the window.'

'It's really important I find out where Max Birou is.'

'Why, so you can bully him? What the fuck is that about? He's gotta be, like, twelve? And you're, what, sixteen? It's pathetic. Grow up. Bye.' She tried to walk away again but Justin's grip on her arm tightened.

'So you did see him.'

Alex sighed in frustration. 'Yes, I did, but I'm not telling you –'

'Look at me.' When she did – _huh, his eyes are a weird blue colour… oh, for God's sake, Harper!_ – Justin continued. 'I'm looking out for Max, trust me. I need to get to him before… before other people do.'

'Those tenth graders just now?'

'Yeah.'

Alex considered this. 'Why should I help you? You don't even know me.'

'God, I don't have time for this.'

'He went that way,' Alex said loudly, pointing down the street. 'I don't know what's down there, but you won't get to him in time and you would have done if you hadn't been talking to me just now.'

'That's all I wanted to know, thank you. And I'm ignoring that last part.' Justin Russo sprinted off, leaving Alex staring at the gates.

* * *

She took her time getting to World History, taking the scenic route across the basketball courts and through a corridor devoted to lockers. However, Alex always made sure to make it to class before the fifteen minute cut-off, to avoid getting a late mark by her name on the register. Needless to say, this really irritated the teachers.

As expected, Mr Laritate sighed when Alex strolled in. 'I'm having the late rule changed when I'm principal,' he said, not for the first time. Mr Laritate had apparently been after a promotion from deputy head for years, even decades, if you believed some rumours.

'Sure thing,' Alex replied, using one hand on her desk to smoothly pivot and drop into her seat. The fluidity of it made her smile a little, and wonder if Dean Moriarty, lounging at the back of the room, had seen it.

Harper sat on Alex's right-hand side. The latter could almost feel her friend's gaze like a sniper's red dot. Alex turned and saw Harper's indignant expression; normally, she just looked resigned. Alex pulled a 'what?' face, and Harper mimed zipping her lips, nodding to the front of the class as she turned back. Alex rolled her eyes and reluctantly did the same.

Harper was silent all lesson. When the ten minute bell went, she spoke up:

'Why were you late?'

Alex snorted. 'Come on, Harper, it's me. When am I _early_?'

'You're going to flunk the year if you keep this up.'

'We're ninth graders, there's nothing _to_ flunk. Anyway, since when have you cared so much about what I do?'

'I'm your best friend, I'm supposed to care. You'll make yourself ill.'

Alex stopped packing her bag and stared at Harper. 'How can I make myself ill by being lazy and doing the bare minimum?'

'Oh, you know what I meant.'

'Are you sure _you're_ not ill? I don't wanna sound rude or anything but you've been kinda… off today.'

'I'm fine.' Harper frowned. 'What do you mean, _off_?'

'Well, your clothes are the most obvious, but I've already said that.'

'What about them in particular?'

'Um.' Alex was perturbed by the intense look in Harper's eyes. It was almost as though she was about to take notes. She stood up and headed for the door, Harper closely following. 'Well, you know, you always have a… a theme, to your wardrobe. Um.' It was a lot harder than Alex thought to be tactful. 'Like, Halloween, or Christmas, or, like, some kind of food like a, um, chicken nugget.'

'Why would I dress like a chicken nugget?'

'I don't know, it was the first thing I thought of! You also don't care when I'm late, like it's not even a big deal. I don't know; it's like you're Harper but a little off-kilter today.'

'Oh.' Harper looked at her shoes and blinked. 'Well, I did feel a little out of sorts this morning. Maybe it's that?'

'Yeah, could be,' Alex said, feeling relieved. 'Um, because I just came on yesterday so it's probably your turn in a couple of days.'

'OK.'

'But yeah, I was only late to class because I got accosted by your future husband.'

Harper was surprised. 'My future husband?'

'Yeah, you know, Justin. Russo?' Alex added when it still hadn't registered, turning around in the corridor to look at Harper.

'Oh, right.'

'There it is again!' Alex pointed at Harper. 'You're you, but you're _not_ you, because you would have known exactly who I was talking about without me telling you his name. It's so weird.'

'I guess I'm just a bit tired, Alex. Go on, you were saying…?'

'Right…' Alex continued walking. 'Well, I was coming into school and we, like, ran into each other at the entrance. Don't worry, it wasn't anything serious. I'm not trying to steal your man, ha ha.' Harper didn't laugh back.

'Anyway,' Alex continued, after an awkward pause, 'He just wanted to know if I'd seen some kid who'd run off or was getting bullied or something.'

'Max Birou?' Harper's whole being changed suddenly and obviously. She strode past, wheeled around, straightened her spine, yet leaned into Alex. Harper's eyes widened and she gripped Alex's upper arm. 'Where is he? Where did he go? What does Russo want with him?'

' _Owww_ , Harper!' Alex tried wrenching free but it felt like she was caught in a vice. Several students walking past glanced curiously at them. 'Let go of me!'

'Did you see Max Birou? Where did he go? I need to know!'

'I'll tell you if you _let go of my arm_.'

Harper eased off a little.

'OK, thank you. Um, I think Justin said his name was Max Birou, but he didn't tell me anything about him, he just wanted to know where he'd gone because he needed to talk to him or something.'

Harper's expression was unfamiliar to Alex. 'Who was Max Birou with? Where did he go?'

'He wasn't with anyone, he was on his own… wait, are we talking about the same guy here? Because I saw a kid who looked about twelve running from a group of tenth grade bullies.'

'That's him! The seventh grader. He's dangerous, Alex.'

 _Nothing says dangerous like a kid running for his life from some bullies._ 'Really?'

'Haven't you been keeping up with the news?'

This was such a stupid question that Alex let out an incredulous burst of laughter. 'No, I don't watch the news. Why, is he on it?'

'Was,' Harper said. 'I can't say why. The walls have ears,' she whispered, leaning in further and looking around.

'What the hell has he done to be on the news? Harper, the kid I saw looked scared for his life. He was running away from some butch tenth graders.'

'Those aren't his bullies,' Harper said. 'They're his hunters. People have a lot of questions for Max Birou.'

'But why? _What did he do_?'

The bell rang.

'Oh darn! We're late for Art, Alex! Come on.' Harper, still keeping hold of Alex's arm, began to jog down the corridor.

Alex hadn't given that seventh grader – Max Birou – any thought since Justin had run off in pursuit. Now her mind was racing. What had this kid done to be on the news? And why was he being sought out by tenth graders?

Maybe she should go looking for Max, too…

'Oh, shoot!' Harper stopped in front of their Art classroom and Alex collided into her back. 'I forgot to ask you something!'

'What now?'

Again, Harper leaned in after checking that the coast was clear. 'Which way did Max Birou go when you saw him running out of school?'

'Um… left, onto Second.'

Harper smiled, but it wasn't a Harper-esque smile at all. It was far more sinister. 'Great! Thanks, Alex.'

'Uh-huh.'

'Wait for me in class, OK? I need to go to the bathroom.' Harper ran off.

 _Sure, the 'bathroom'._ Alex waited for a minute, but followed after thirty seconds. How many people now want to track down this Max kid and ask him some questions? This is, like, the dorkiest scavenger hunt ever.

At the main entrance to the school, Alex paused; Harper was only just reaching the gates. _Don't turn right, don't turn right._ Harper turned left. Good. Alex jogged over and peered round the gates. Harper had clearly just gone round the corner. _Perfect._ Alex turned right and began to run.

 _He won't even be around here anymore. He's long gone. He's probably over the bridge in Brooklyn or something. Why is this street so damn long?_

When she got to the crossing, Alex doubled over, panting. _Great. Now which way do I go?_ Whichever road intersected with East Twentieth seemed to stretch out forever. Alex straightened up and looked over her shoulder. Harper wasn't following her. _Why do I care if she is or not? And why am I so afraid of her doing that?_

It hadn't been immediately clear to Alex about why she had lied to Harper. It seemed obvious now: she wasn't quite herself. It could be something as simple as her finally growing up, now that they had started high school, but what if it was something else?

There was a sign at the crossing for East River, pointing straight ahead. Alex thought it was just as likely Max would be there as anywhere else. The lights changed and she crossed the road.

It was another long stretch of sidewalk. Alex didn't bother running this time. _I'll get to that bridge-looking thing at the end of the street and work out where to go from there. This is so stupid; I should have just stayed for Art._

She had passed a tree-lined entrance into some kind of campus when someone called out.

'Hey!'

It was Justin Russo, standing a little bit beyond the trees. He gestured for Alex to come over.

'Why are you cutting class?' Alex said, when she was in normal speaking distance.

'Why are you?'

'I asked you first, and I always cut class. It's just Art anyway, it's no big deal.'

'Are you looking for Max too?' Justin asked, walking further into the campus.

Alex shrugged. 'I guess. I just want to know why everyone wants to talk to him. He won't have anything insightful or witty to say, he's only twelve.'

'It's not what he could say. Well, it kind of is, but it's more what he did,' Justin said.

'That's so helpful. Why won't anyone give me a straight answer? All my friend would tell me is that he'd been on the news and that 'walls have ears' or some other nonsense. Why is it so hard to believe that maybe this kid is just being bullied? What is this place, anyway, some college campus?'

'Peter Cooper Village. This is where Max lives – or used to live, I'm not sure.'

'So he may or may not have moved out. So what? His parents probably wanted something cheaper, or –'

'His parents are dead,' Justin said.

Alex stopped and stared. Justin carried on walking for a few seconds before realising she wasn't keeping pace. He turned and looked at her. His expression was blank.

Alex stayed where she was. 'How can you say something like that so casually? That's horrible, and now he's being _bullied_ for it?' _What a douche!_

'We think he killed his parents,' Justin said, in that same voice people used when they were talking about the weather.

'Who's we? Because it isn't me.'

'Of course it isn't you.' He sounded irritated. 'My dad and I; we think he killed his parents. I got some time off from school this week to look for Max. We want to help him.'

'Why are there other people looking for him, those other tenth graders? They didn't look like they wanted to help.'

Justin looked confused. 'Well, they don't.'

'Yeah, I figured, genius. Did Max kill their parents too?'

'Um. I can't really… like, I don't know how to explain it.'

'Try me. I'm smarter than I look; I just don't agree with institutionalised education.'

'Hang on, first… did you say your friend was talking about Max?'

'Yeah, but she didn't say anything useful. She was acting like she was in some crappy action movie.'

'Who's your friend?'

'She's called Harper. Finkle. You don't know her, but you'll have definitely seen her around. Like yesterday, she was dressed as a jack-o-lantern, 'cause it's Halloween soon.'

'Was she dressed as a rainbow once or something?'

'Oh, yeah, maybe, for Pride or something like that? Wow, that was months ago.'

'Had she talked about Max before today?'

'No. She only asked because I was telling her –' _Probably not the best idea to tell Justin that my best friend, a complete stranger to him, wants his babies._

'That you were in Starbucks, right?'

'Yeah, right. And that I'd seen him run out of school and that these older kids were chasing him.'

Justin resumed walking, towards a nearby bench. 'Let's sit down. We could be here a while. And what did she – Harper, right? – what did she say to that?'

'Well,' Alex sat down. 'She was all interested. Like, she got right in my face and was grabbing my arm and whispering. She really wanted to find him.'

'But she'd never – and you never – brought up Max before this morning?'

'Never.'

Justin frowned. 'Did you tell her he went this way?'

'I told her he went left and onto Second Avenue.'

'Why?'

'Because…' _I'm sat on a bench with someone who doesn't know my name, Harper's_ crush _, and I'm practically giving him my life story._ 'I'm Alex, by the way. Since we haven't introduced ourselves.'

'Oh... Oh, right! Yeah, sorry. I'm Justin.' He held out his hand, and Alex shook it.

'Anyway,' she continued, 'I told her that because… she's been acting _weird_ today. Like, not out-and-out weird, and maybe that's the wrong word because Harper is always weird, that's just who she is. But, like, I dunno… odd? Strange?'

'Not herself?'

'Yeah.' Alex pointed at Justin and nodded. 'Yeah, not herself. I noticed this morning when she got off the subway that she was dressed really normal for, like, normal people, but really conservative? For her, I mean. I told her she looked conventional.'

'Anything else?'

'Um, I don't see what this has to do with this Max kid.'

Justin sighed. 'It's… difficult to explain. Like, there's theories my dad and I have that… we can't tell other people.'

'Because they're stupid and unbelievable?'

'No. Just… yeah, I guess unbelievable.' Justin crossed his arms, staring out towards East Twentieth. 'But it involves people not acting like themselves. That's why I'm interested in your friend and why I want to know the way she's acting like you say she is.'

'I just thought it was because she was coming down with something. She just seemed slow, so I thought she was tired, or getting sick.'

'Is she getting sick?' Justin asked with interest.

'I don't know. It could be her time of the month for all I know.'

'Maybe.' Justin was the first boy Alex had ever met who hadn't pulled a face at the slightest mention of periods. _How mature. Then again, he is a straight-A student and their minds don't work the same as normal people's._

'So your friend, Harper, said that Max had been on the news?'

'Yeah… yeah, and that's another thing, actually. Why aren't there police cars and stuff looking for him round here? Like, wouldn't they have been standing outside school if he's _killed_ people?'

'I don't know for certain that that's what he did; just that I _think_. But that's not the point; he hasn't been on the news. At all.'

'Well, why would Harper just make that up? She'd never lie to me.'

'That's the second time I've heard that Max was on the news. But he wasn't, Alex. My dad has the TV and the radio on all the time and there's been no mention of Max at all in the last few days.'

Alex tipped her head in her hands. 'I'm totally lost. We just keep jumping from one thing to another and… I don't know. I'm so confused.'

'This isn't really the time or the place to be talking about this kind of thing.'

'So we should meet after school. Doesn't your dad own a Subway or something?'

'It's an independent sandwich shop.'

'OK, so let's go there after school tonight and talk about it.'

'Ummmm.' Justin stood up abruptly and wiped his hands on his trousers. 'No offence, but that's kind of short notice.'

'Why? It's a sandwich shop. Like, 99% of your customers make a spontaneous decision to eat there and you're, like, what: "oh no, sorry, that's too short notice"?' Alex laughed.

'No no no no, it's not that, it's…' Justin paced in front of the bench and stopped in front of her. 'Sorry. Um, yeah, tonight should be fine.'

'What was all that about then?'

'Sorry,' Justin repeated, 'I just wasn't expecting… this. Any of this. It's not you.'

Alex shrugged. 'So where's your sandwich shop?' she asked, trying to sound like a girl whose friend hadn't printed out and blown up a Google Maps of the exact location, with directions on how to get there from her house.

'It's down Waverly Place.' Justin waved a hand behind him. 'Quite a ways down. Um, we could get the subway together?'

'Fine, but I'll meet you there.' It wouldn't do her reputation any good if she was seen with the president of the Alien Language League.

'Sure.' Justin looked at his watch. 'Anyway, I guess you better get back to class. You've missed your second period but you'll probably be able to make the last five minutes of break.'

'I'm in no rush,' Alex said, waving her own hand flippantly. 'I've only got Spanish next. I'll see you after school. Have fun on your manhunt.'

* * *

Alex ran into Harper at the school gates.

'Why are you out of class?'

'Um, excuse me,' Alex said. 'Where did you go? You never made it to Art.'

'Yes I did,' said Harper, hands on her hips. 'And _you_ weren't there. As usual.'

'I saw you leave campus and you never returned.'

'I had a family emergency.'

'All the way back in the Bronx?'

'Yeah.' Harper was sounding less convincing by the sentence.

'Don't bullshit me. I'm the Queen of BS, remember?'

'OK, fine,' Harper said. 'I went looking for Max Birou.'

'Why?'

'Because he –' Harper gasped and looked around. 'I can't say when we're outside like this,' she whispered.

Alex wanted to push further, but she remembered what Justin had said about people suddenly not acting like themselves. She couldn't be sure if Harper would cave under pressure and tell her everything, or if she would do something worse.

'Sure, OK then,' Alex said. 'We still have five minutes of break left. Did you want a coffee?'

'I'm OK, thanks.' Harper smiled, and it seemed to Alex that that was ever so slightly off, too. _Or I could just be paranoid. Harper's just at that time of the month, and she'll be back to normal in a few days, and Justin's just weird. Why should I take anything he says seriously? But then why am I meeting up with him after school…?_

* * *

 **I'll try and update a couple of times a month in between writing my dissertation. Thanks for reading :)  
**


	2. Chapter 2

As promised, Justin was waiting by the entrance to the subway on Third Avenue. He was alone.

'Hey,' Alex said, raising her voice a little to be heard over the traffic.

'Hey,' Justin said, turning and going down the steps. Alex followed.

'My dad's expecting you,' he said. 'Like, not in a formal way, he just knows that I'm bringing a friend round.'

'Um, sure.' Alex didn't know anyone who had to clear spontaneous friend visits with their parents. 'What about your mom?'

'I don't have one.'

'OK. Well, I was thinking I could talk to your dad and get his opinion on this Max thing,' Alex said.

'Oh, he'll be working a double; normally I'd be working after school but you're coming over so… Which one do I take?' They had paused in front of a large map with various lines of different colours intersecting each other.

'Um, your usual train?'

'I, uh, I walk normally.'

'Wow, how long does that take?'

'Um, like, fifteen minutes or so?' Justin said distractedly. He ran a finger down one of the lines. 'OK. Um, I think we get off at Astor Place? I mean, yeah, that's where the stop is. OK.'

'Dude, we can just walk it if it's not far, it's no big deal.'

'We're taking the subway.' Justin marched off. Alex sighed, rolling her eyes as she trailed after him.

The train journey to Astor Place took about five minutes, and from there, it was a fifteen minute walk to Waverly Place. They almost got lost a couple of times, despite Justin looking at Google Maps for directions.

Waverly Place itself was narrow, and crammed with boutiques and restaurants calling themselves 'artisan'. Justin's dad's sandwich shop, the Waverly Sub Station, had a grille cut exactly in half and placed on the double doors.

'The theme is the New York Subway,' Justin said. Alex would have responded with a sarcastic comment if she hadn't found his pride a little endearing.

Inside, it wasn't empty, but it wasn't packed with people. At one end of the room was a subway car replica (or perhaps a genuine one). An acoustic track was playing from the speakers, and the whole place smelled like cooking oil.

'Hey Dad,' Justin said as he and Alex approached a man sitting at the long counter, reading a newspaper. 'This is Alex.'

Mr Russo put the newspaper down and extended an arm. 'Nice to meet you. Call me Jerry.' He had a very firm handshake.

'Nice to meet you too. I'm sorry my visit was short notice.'

'Not a problem. I don't mind doing a double today because we're not exactly busy.' Jerry laughed.

Alex didn't like it when adults made jokes, because they were always horrible, so she smiled and laughed once.

'Can I get you anything to eat or drink? On the house,' Jerry said.

'Oh, no, that's OK, thank you. Really.'

'Well, when you get hungry, you know where I am.'

Alex's smile came a lot easier this time.

'OK, well, we're heading upstairs now, Dad. See ya.' Justin motioned for Alex to follow, and they climbed over a STAFF ONLY chain stretched across the walls and up a metal spiral staircase into an open-plan front room, complete with kitchenette-cum-dining room, and an identical staircase.

'Sorry about that. He's, um, excited because you're a girl and I've never had a girl round here before. Don't worry, I told him that I was tutoring you in Math.'

'Thanks,' Alex said dryly.

'He won't come and check on us, though. I mean, because he's so busy. So.. Yeah.' Was Justin blushing? There was an awkward pause.

'Whatever,' Alex said. 'Um, so where do we start? I have a few questions still.'

'Go ahead.' Justin walked over to an orange couch and sat down, motioning for Alex to do the same.

'I guess my main question is: what has Harper got to do with that Max kid from this morning? I didn't even know he existed until today, and trust me, she's definitely not the vigilante type.'

'It's not just Harper now,' Justin said. 'My friend Zeke got into school at lunchtime. Lunchtime,' he repeated.

'And, what, he never normally does that? He's like a total goody two shoes who always gets straight A's and gets to school an hour before homeroom?'

Justin rolled his eyes. 'I mean, yeah, essentially, my best friend and I are geeks. Is that a problem?'

'I'm willing to overlook it for now.'

'Great. Anyway, yeah, it was really unlike Zeke to just show up late to school. And, like Harper, he wasn't acting like himself either. Wanna guess what he was talking about?'

'This Max kid?'

Justin snapped his fingers. 'Exactly. Asking me if I'd seen him, where did he go, he'd been on the news, etcetera, etcetera.'

'That's what Harper said too.'

'How did you get on the subject of Max?'

'Ummm…' She looked at a small, tacky-looking vase on the coffee table in front of them. This was definitely not a good time to tell Justin that her best friend, who was acting weirder than normal, was crushing on him. 'She was asking me where I was this morning because I didn't go to homeroom, and I was telling her that I'd seen him being chased by those tenth graders, because that was an unexpected thing to see on a Monday morning.'

'OK.'

'And she just got all… I don't know, action-movie villain. She told me that those tenth-graders were his "hunters" that had a lot of questions for him.'

Justin reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, purple notebook and a small, matching pen. Alex expected him to start scribbling straightaway, but he flipped over a couple of pages and looked at his notes.

'That's so weird.' He didn't elaborate.

'What is?'

Now he started scrawling something on the next page, notebook resting on his knee.

'That's the same thing he said,' he muttered.

'Zeke? What?' Alex craned her neck for a better look but Justin shifted away.

'Yeah…' He finished writing and turned back a page. His frown deepened.

'Do you remember exactly what Harper told you?'

'I can't even remember what we had for lunch today, and that's saying something, because that's my favourite subject.'

'Come on, Alex,' Justin snapped.

'OK, jeez! Um…' Alex stared at Justin's notes, which was, of course, perfectly helpful when trying to think all the way back to this morning. Harper had spat out her questions like Rambo's machine-gun.

'Uh, she asked me: "Did you see Max? Where did he go?" She asked that one twice… "Who was he with?" Oh, and "Which way did he go?", because she ran off five seconds later to go chase him.'

'Yeah, that was it.' Justin pushed the pen against his top lip and gazed at Alex. 'Zeke asked me those exact same questions, in that order, when he saw me at lunchtime. He even asked me twice where Max went, just like Harper.'

Alex sat back on the couch. 'That is next level creepy. How did you and Zeke get on the subject of Max?' Somehow, she couldn't see the pair approaching it via gossip about their crush. _Like they even_ have _crushes_.

'He just asked me. He knows that I'm really into mysteries, and the True Crime Channel and stuff.'

Alex was all set to scoff at Justin's supreme nerdiness, but was distracted by Justin closing his notebook and tucking it back into his pocket.

'Wait, what else is in that notebook? Stuff to do with Max?'

'Yeah.'

'Can I see?'

'Um…' Justin's eyes were darting everywhere. 'No. It's just speculative stuff, nothing I want to say out loud, because it might sound ridiculous or whatever.'

'It can't be as ridiculous as what I've been thinking about.'

'Which is?'

'Show me your ideas and I'll tell you mine.'

'Ladies first.' Justin smiled.

Alex blinked and felt herself blush. _No. Stop that. You cannot catch feelings for King Geek of Tribeca. Think about your reputation!_

'OK, so I was thinking about the whole news thing. Harper said that Max had been on the news, almost definitely about his supposed killing of his parents. And Zeke said the same thing to you – probably the exact same thing, though at this point, I'm not ruling out freaky coincidences with the whole questioning routine.

'But you told me that you haven't seen anything on the news about Max, or about some parents getting murdered by their precious offspring. And you said your dad's said the same thing too, so I believe that.'

Justin snorted. 'Based on my dad watching the news?'

'Yeah.' Alex rolled her eyes. 'Adults are always watching the news, so he would know.'

Justin's lips pressed together.

'Don't laugh at me.'

'I'm not,' he said, sounding like he was suppressing giggles. 'Go on.'

Alex looked at her hands in her lap. 'Well, I was thinking during Spanish, and I thought that maybe Harper had seen a fake news report or something? Like, maybe a skit or something on a public access channel. And maybe those tenth-graders saw it too and were fooled. And Zeke too, I guess.'

Justin was nodding. 'It's possible.' He took out his notebook again, opened it to his most recent scribblings about Harper, and wrote 'FAKE NEWS PRANK ON PUBLIC ACCESS?' underneath. When he caught Alex looking, he snatched his notebook away again.

'I mean it. I don't want you looking.'

'Why?' Alex laughed. 'Come on, I told you my ridiculous theory and you said you'd show me what was in that notebook.'

'So, Harper, Zeke and those tenth-graders could have watched the same thing on TV last night,' Justin said loudly.

'Justin –'

'I can see that happening. But what if it wasn't a skit? What if it was something else?'

'Like what?'

Justin looked behind him, at the stairs. He shuffled a little closer to Alex.

'They could have watched something that… Influenced their minds, so to speak.'

Alex swallowed, leaning away from Justin. 'What's that supposed to mean, like, brainwashing?' She scoffed and hoped it sounded convincing, and not like her entire being had frozen up.

'Yeah. I guess. I told you it was kind of stupid.'

'Wait. What?' She shook her head. 'That's impossible. Brainwashing doesn't exist. How would that even work?'

'It's a theory I've been working on. Someone will have intercepted the broadcast tower, maybe a TV network itself, and planted a subliminal message. Those susceptible to the signals being transmitted by the message would become brainwashed over a period of time.'

'OK...' Alex could spot a couple of flaws in that suggestion.

'There are factors I need to take into consideration, though. What programs were Zeke and Harper watching, if they were watching TV at all? How would you be able to access a TV network or the broadcast tower, to be able to plant the message in the first place? Who was responsible for this, and how long have they been sending out subliminal messages?'

'And is it even possible?' Alex pointed out.

Justin acknowledged this by pointing the pen at Alex. 'I need to do further research on this. Can you help me?'

'Um, sure.' _No, Alex, the correct answer would have been: I'm not helping you in your impossible mission to prove your science fiction nerd theory._

'Could you ask Harper about what she's been watching recently? It should be easy to bring that up in a conversation.' Justin was writing something down again. 'I'll ask Zeke, of course.'

'Wait, we're seriously gonna pursue this lead? What does this have to do with Max? Oh, and you do realise that brainwashing isn't real?'

Justin tore his eyes away from his notebook. He looked conflicted.

'I can't tell you why, Alex. I just can't,' he added, seeing that she had been about to interrupt. 'You wouldn't believe me, and God knows you barely believe me about this anyway. I just… I want to cross off the more… I guess you'd call them stupid, but I'd call them 'unlikely theories', before I can work on the more plausible ones. To cover all my bases.' He sighed and looked away.

Alex didn't like this vulnerable-looking Justin; he was somehow even worse (but less annoying) than the slightly arrogant, know-it-all geek.

'OK,' she said. 'Well, if you ever want to tell me – a- _choo_!'

Justin dived forward. Starting violently, Alex leaped back, her arms thrown up in front of her. Justin froze into position. Something shattered behind Alex.

'Shit!'

She brought her arms down and Justin snapped back into his seat. Alex twisted in hers and saw the small vase lying in pieces on the floor.

'Ohmygod, Justin, I am _so_ sorry! I didn't realise it was there!'

'Huh? Oh, don't worry about it.' Justin was rubbing his arms and giving Alex a funny look.

'What?'

'Everything OK up here?'

Mr Russo – Jerry – was clanging up the stairs. He took in the scene before him. 'Is that Nonna's ornamental vase?'

Justin nodded.

'Shit, Justin, I am so, so sorry! Oh – I'm really sorry for swearing, Mr Russo. I didn't even feel myself knocking it over. Oh _God_.' Alex threw her hands to her head.

'Don't worry about it, Alex. Accidents happen.' Jerry's voice was bouncing over to where she was sitting. 'I'll just clean it up.'

'Dad,' Justin said sharply.

'Huh? What?'

Justin didn't say anything. Alex looked up to see Justin standing, looking at Jerry in a very odd manner. It wasn't the same look as the one he'd just given Alex now, but he was definitely saying something with this one.

'Oh!' Jerry, who had been half-squatting by the broken vase, sprang away from the mess and straightened up. 'I'll get the, uh… The broom.' He shuffled backwards and collided with the armchair, almost toppling into it.

 _What is up with them?_ Alex turned back to Justin. Her nose prickled and she tensed her face in anticipation of the sneeze.

'Do we have any cold medicine?' Justin asked. Without waiting for an answer, he bounded over to the small kitchenette. 'Found some.'

He waved a bottle of pills – that Alex couldn't remember having seen on the counter, though she hadn't really looked – and raced back over to her, opening the lid and shaking out two capsules.

'There's a nasty virus going round. I don't want to catch it.'

Too bewildered to question the legitimacy of his statement, Alex swallowed the pills. The near-overwhelming urge to sneeze passed.

'I'm really sorry about breaking that vase.'

'Don't worry about it,' Jerry said. 'Between you and me, I was thinking of selling it anyway. It was a bit…' He pulled a face, and then grinned.

'Maybe you should go home and rest up,' Justin said. 'Make sure the cold doesn't come back. Do you think you can see yourself out? I just need to help Dad with… The vase thing.'

'Um, sure.' Feeling more embarrassed by the minute, Alex pulled her jacket on and picked up her bag. She began heading for the spiral staircase.

'Oh, not that way.' Justin headed to the apartment door. 'Just leave this way. The stairwell's on your left.'

'Thanks.' Alex paused at the door. 'See you tomorrow. I'm –'

'Alex. Forget it, OK?' Justin gazed at her. 'See ya.'

She stepped into the hallway and turned. As Justin closed the door, he looked around at Jerry. He was frowning, and his arms were crossed.


End file.
